Online methodologies and open resources for LSP teacher education and professional development

Abstract

This study focuses on online teaching methodologies within the field of languages for specific purposes (LSP) and attempts to identify suitable tools that can be implemented in an online course for LSP teacher education and professional development. Firstly, it defines terms that are relevant to online teaching/learning and discusses the main types of online learning according to their delivery mode. Then, it explores the current provision of online training programmes for preservice and in-service LSP teachers within the European Higher Education Area with a view to gaining a further understanding of the learning gaps and institutional requirements that would need to be covered in a future online course. The next section poses the research questions, explains the methodology that has been applied, and describes the instruments that have been developed. The main results and findings are presented in the third section, and the conclusions that follow suggest the existence of robust online learning methodologies and activities for implementation in online courses aimed at LSP teacher education and training.